Conventional heat treatment furnaces do not enable sufficiently precise control over the heat treatment of workpieces. Additionally, conventional furnaces are relatively large and not compatible with in-line manufacturing processes. They are incompatible because conventional treatment processes utilize only one centralized furnace for all heat treatment operations, despite the fact that there are typically several heat treatment operations involved in a manufacturing process. Thus, substantial manufacturing delays and bottlenecks arise due to the time and logistics of transporting parts to the furnace and associated treatment times.
Accordingly, improvement is desired in regards to furnaces and heat treatment processes for heat treatment of workpieces.